Thermoregulation

Behavioural thermoregulation is an impotant aspect in the thermal biology of endotherms and ectotherms. By altering behavioural posture or moving between thermally different microhabitats, animals modify the operative temperature they experience and thereby alter heat transfer rates with the environment.

Transient receptor potential ion channels (TRPV1 and TRPM8) are the mechanism by which reptiles sense their environment. The TRP genes are expressed throughout the body and permit the animals to contrast environmental and internal temperatures to initiate thermoregulatory behaviour.

To determine whether or not behavioural sequences represent thermoregulation requires comparison between the study animal and a control. Random distributions of body temperature of a hypothetical animal are often used as a control, and these distributions may be derived from physical models, or from calculations of transient heat transfer.